10 



better and wider diffused knowledge of the exact species, 

 and a studious investigation of their habits, might enable the 

 florist to resist such vexing inroads on his time and labor. 

 The gladsome visitants of spring, and the familiar denizens of 

 our gardens, in the several kinds of insect-eating birds, should 

 be made the welcome inmates and guests of our lawns, parterres, 

 and orchards ; nor should indiscriminate warfare be urged on all 

 insects, as not a few are in turn, carnivorous in their propen- 

 sities, and devouring the more obtrusive and offensive. 

 A peculiarly destructive insect has been so abundant the past 

 season, as to destroy not only the Dahlia, but even choicer 

 sorts of asters, zinnias and the like. It were desirable that 

 specimens of every such foe could be collected and preserv- 

 ed for the Society's inspection, in order for their better 

 recognizance. Every gardener and florist, every cultivator 

 and amateur, could furnish information, falling under his 

 notice, of decided utility and practical value. 



On recurrence to the report of the Committee on Flowers, 

 we find that for two successive weeks, after the Annual Fes- 

 tival of 1837, very superior varieties and exquisite specimens 

 of Dahlias were exhibited by several growers and florists. 

 The last display was on the seventh of October, soon after 

 which, a frost of sufficient severity, destroyed the floral offer- 

 ing of autumn. 



The advertising sheet of the Magazine of Horticulture, for 

 April 1838, conducted by C. M. Hovey, of the firm of 

 Messrs Hovey & Co., furnishes a list of twentytw^o new va- 

 rieties, raised in England, and offered for sale. Of these, 

 many were Jiighly commended in the Enghsh floricul- 

 tural pubhcations, as standard flowers of exceeding merit and 

 great perfection. Other individuals had possessed themselves 

 of some of these and of other new, superb varieties ; thus 

 attesting, by their prospective provision, a laudable zeal in 

 the introduction into our own culture, of the most perfect of 



